Food in Andalucia

May 4, 2009 4:20 PM

Renting car, driving Andalucia. Looking for local (and interesting) food.

Have a trip planned - probably in too much granularity - to Andalucia in a few weeks. Kinda have an ide of b&b's etc, but am much more interested in the food...

current itinerary is:
day 1: rent car in madrid, drive to granada (everybody says the alhambra is a "must", its the one "checklist item"), nite in granada
day 2: drive to ronda, eat, relax
day 3: 2nd nite in ronda, trips to surrounding area
day 4: drive to vejer de la frontera
day 5: 2nd nite in vejer
day 6: nite in conil? arcos? seville?
day 7: drop car in seville, train to madrid, nite in madrid
day 8: leave madrid

looking for authentic, spanish/moorish food, dont care about michelin stars. love tapas, piggy products and out of the way places that are well off the beaten track. willing to detour for snacks. interesting/strange a plus.

ideas? any major flaws in itinerary (aside from being only a week and flying to/from madrid)?

posted by wackoacko to Travel & Transportation around Spain (7 answers total)

in Madrid, eat at La Casa Botin - which is outside the southeast corner of the Plaza Mayor. It is the oldest restaurant in the world, very traditional - and really good.
posted by Flood at 5:41 PM on May 4, 2009

Granada - Mirador de Morayma (picture) Walk the Albaicin and buy moorish pasties from one of the Tea shops.
Eat sardines cooked on the beach; Look out for "Menu del Dia" . Every Pueblo has at least one bar serving a meal at midday. Buy Jamon, or Chorizo in a market with local bread and olives and tomato and oil and have a picnic somewhere. Go to a market in a city, Not a supermarket a market. Be overwhelmed. Remember Spaniards take a siesta. Shops shut at one thirty / two. Restaurants don't open until 8 in the evening at the earliest. Slow down and enjoy.
posted by adamvasco at 5:09 AM on May 5, 2009

For the Alhambra, get your tickets well in advance. If you expect to walk right in, you will be unpleasantly surprised.

Foodwise, never eat paella at a place that has a picture of paella out on the sidewalk or on the door. Paella is best found in coastal towns and not so much the interior. If you want to see one of Spain's great fiestas, try the Feria de Cordoba in late May.

If you like pig then any Museo de Jamon will provide delicious jamon curado. Madrid has plenty of them - it is a franchise but a very good franchise. Pass through Segovia and go to Restaurante Jose Maria for the best cochinillo.
posted by JJ86 at 6:13 AM on May 5, 2009

Response by poster: love it...

anybody heard of fried anemones? i've heard rumors you can find them on the coast....
posted by wackoacko at 3:12 PM on May 5, 2009

Not so much advice about restaurants and snack bars (can't remember the detail to be honest), but would strongly recommend seeing the village of Setenil de las Bodegas northeast of Ronda (middle of nowhere) as it is a unique pueblo blanco built mostly under (and inside) cliff overhangs, i.e. using semi-cave dwellings. Also, from Vejer (good choice, stay and eat at the Hotel Casa de Califa) do not miss an excursion to the well-excavated Roman ruins of Baelo Claudia. Consider a day trip to Morocco from Tarifa. Forget Conil; Arcos is spectacularly located on a cliff ledge and does not take long to see whereas Seville would take much longer (if you go, you must walk the walk up the cathedral bell tower). If there is time - probably not - a trip east to see Gibraltar (if only from a distance) is unforgettable, although the town itself is better avoided. If you go there, take the time to discover Castellar de la Frontera, a castellated village rather than a castle, overlooking a man-made mountain lake (interesting story of how it survived the Franco era). Wherever you go, food is usually simple but good in most non-tourist places. In Ronda, pay your Euro to visit the little museum recently opened underneath the bridge span.
posted by kairab at 12:08 AM on May 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

P.S. Parking is a major headache in Ronda - if your hotel has parking then don't worry; if it doesn't, then you can usually get away for a few hours with parking in the Parador underground car park - although you might want to have a drink there to give you legitimacy. The restaurants overlooking the gorge have fantastic balcony views, especially those on the Western (Old Town) side. Chose by taking a look from the bridge first and then heading for the street entrance. BTW Segovia is good but not on the way from Madrid. Toledo is. And if there is time, stop to compare the Malaga moorish palace to the Alhambra if you are into them. And the Seville Alcazar (that would be three of the main four).
posted by kairab at 12:17 AM on May 6, 2009

Response by poster: thanks kairab - the ruins sound great! certainly plan on driving for a bit to catch nice things that are outside the towns, i'll let you know how it goes!
posted by wackoacko at 6:54 AM on May 6, 2009